Revisions To My Lucy, Lacy, and Lilly - A Beautiful Trio of Mixed Media Victorian Shelf Sitters

Lucy, Lacy, and Lilly are a trio of sisters who are as different as they are beautiful. Lucy is a delicate flower who has an over abundance of compassion.  Lacy, on the other hand, is whimsical and flirtatious while Lilly is a deep thinker who cares about everyone and everything.

They are mixed media Victorian collage and paper-clay art dolls that I made back in September of 2014.

I was never happy with the way their faces looked (as shown in the picture below) because I always thought they were too big.  I didn't like how they looked with their hair as I always thought they weren't proportioned correctly.  So, I decided to change them and add bonnets to the top of their heads for better overall proportions with the shelf sitter parts of their bodies.

The one on the left in the picture above is Lucy.  Here's how she used to look:

Here's how she looks now:

Lucy - 4 1/2" x 6" x 3/4" Handmade Mixed Media Victorian Collage Shelf Sitter Art Doll

Lucy is a 4 1/2" x 6" x 3/4" mixed media Victorian shelf sitter wood doll with a paper face, sponge painted wood body, paper collage and embellished outfit, and fabric gathered and covered bamboo bonnet with paper floral embellishments. Her sides and back are sponge painted and her outfit is an embellished paper collage dress with a two tier cape with raised orange dots. Orange lace trim is wrapped around her neck and she has a beautiful orange and cream paper flower under her neck.

Her beautiful brown thick alpaca yarn hair from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber is wrapped in a bun and adorned with a delicate white flower and leaf ribbon braid. A white flower and butterfly add charm to her collage outfit.

The doll in the center of the 2nd picture at the start of this post is Lacy.  Here's how she used to look:

Here's how she looks now:

Lacy - 4 1/2" x 6" x 3/4" Handmade Mixed Media Victorian Collage Shelf Sitter Art Doll

Lacy is a 4 1/2" x 6" x 3/4" mixed media Victorian shelf sitter wood doll with a paper face, sponge painted wood body, paper collage and embellished outfit. Her fabric gathered and covered bamboo bonnet with paper floral and silk floral embellishments is fastened with a purple check ribbon that is tied in a bow under her chin. Her sides and back are sponge painted and her outfit  is an embellished paper collage dress with a two tier cape with raised black dots. White lace trim adorned with a beautiful pearl and silk ribbon flower is wrapped around her neck.

Her beautiful brown thick alpaca yarn hair from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber is wrapped in a bun. A bouquet of flowers and butterfly add charm to her collage outfit.

Lily is the doll on the right in the 2nd picture at the top of this post. Here's how she used to look:

Here's how she looks now:

Lilly - 4 1/2" x 6" x 3/4" Handmade Mixed Media Victorian Collage Shelf Sitter Art Doll

Lilly is a 4 1/2" x 5" x 3/4" mixed media Victorian shelf sitter wood doll with a paper face, sponge painted wood body, paper collage and embellished outfit. Her sides and back are sponge painted and her outfit is an embellished paper collage dress with center band with raised white dots, waistband, and cape with raised blue dots and blue bow. She has blue lace trim wrapped around her neck and a blue silk ribbon floral embellishment under her chin.  Her beautiful paper bonnet sits atop her head and is adorned with a multi layered silk trim adorned with paper floral embellishments.

Her beautiful dark gray thick alpaca yarn hair from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber is wrapped in a bun and gathered lace trim frames her head on the inside of her bonnet. A bouquet of flowers and butterfly add charm to her collage outfit.

I hop you like the changes I made to Lucy, Lacy, and Lilly.

A Revision For Peace, Serenity, and Composure - My New Mixed Media Victorian Collage and Paper-clay Art Dolls

Peace, Serenity, and Composure are a trio of sisters who do everything together. Where there's Peace you'll find Serenity and Composure. Where there's Serenity you'll find Peace and Composure. And, where there's Composure you'll find Peace and Serenity.

Peace and Serenity live in an idealized world where everything is peaceful and serene.  Composure is more of a realist and lives in a realistic world where she is always composed.  It may be a realistic world, but not one that rattles her.

They are mixed media Victorian collage and paper-clay wood art dolls that I made back in September of 2014 - two with paper-clay faces and one with a paper face.

I have always loved how Peace and Serenity came out.  They're the two shown on the left and in the center in the picture above.  I wasn't totally happy with Composure, who is the doll on the right in the picture above, so I decided to revise her face and sculpt a paper-clay one instead.

Here's how she used to look:

Here's how she looks now:

I decided to sculpt her face with paper-clay.  Then I painted her face, lips and eyebrows.  Her eyes are a combination of an eye graphic and painted shading on her eyelids.  Her corrugated paper glasses were painted with gold glitter and then glued to the brim of her nose.  I tweaked her hair a little and gave her straight bangs.  I hope you like how she turned out.

Composure - 2" x 3 1/2" x 9" Handmade Mixed Media Victorian Collage Art Doll With Paper-clay Face and Glasses

Composure is a 2" x 3 1/2" x 9" mixed media Victorian wood doll with a paper-clay sculpted face with graphic and painted eyelids, painted, face, painted lips, painted eyebrows, and blushed cheeks.  Her wood body is sponge painted and she is wearing a paper collage and embellished outfit. Her sides and back are sponge painted and her outfit is an embellished paper collage adorned with lace trim, pearl drop ribbon trim, and purple silk floral ribbon embellishment.

A fancy lace embroidered shawl is wrapped around her shoulders and fastened with a purple silk floral and a beautiful purple silk floral is fastened below her neck. Her light brown thick alpaca yarn hair from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber is wrapped in a bun and adorned with a  beautiful lilac flower and leaf silk ribbon braid. Burgundy polka dot ribbon trim is wrapped around her sponge painted wooden base.

Peace - 2" x 3 1/2" x 9" Handmade Mixed Media Victorian Collage Art Doll With Paper-clay Face

Peace is a 2" x 3 1/2" x 9" mixed media Victorian wood doll with a painted paper-clay face with lilac blushed eyelids, rosy cheeks, pink painted finger nails, sponge painted wood body, paper collage and embellished outfit. Her sides and back are sponge painted and her outfit is an embellished paper collage adorned with lace trim and ribbon trim.

A gathered lace and ribbon over-skirt serves as a bustle for her outfit. An embroidered shawl is wrapped around her shoulders and fastened with a pearl beaded button. Her light gray thick alpaca yarn hair from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber is wrapped in a bun and adorned with a dressy silver braid. Lilac ribbon trim is wrapped around her sponge painted wooden base.

Serenity - 2" x 3 1/2" x 9" Handmade Mixed Media Victorian Collage Art Doll With Paper-clay Face

Serenity is a 2" x 3 1/2" x 9" mixed media Victorian wood doll with a painted paper-clay face with blue blushed eyelids, rosy cheeks, red painted finger nails, sponge painted wood body, paper collage and embellished outfit. Her sides and back are sponge painted and her outfit is an embellished paper collage adorned with lace trim and ribbon trim.

A fancy lace embroidered shawl is wrapped around her shoulders and fastened with a red silk floral. Her light brown thick alpaca yarn hair from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber is wrapped in a bun and adorned with a white flower and leaf braid. Blue polka dot ribbon trim is wrapped around her sponge painted wooden base.

I Just Had To Tweak and Revise My Mixed Media Paper-clay Victorian Art Dolls

Back in September 2014 I decided to make some Victorian mixed media collage and paper-clay faced art dolls. So, combining my love of dolls with my decades long experience with sewing and crafting and utilizing everything I've learned in all the online classes I'd taken I decided that was the time to make those dolls. I tend to favor stump dolls, shelf sitters, and faceless dolls and knew these would be no exception.

I wanted to utilize some of the molds I had bought several years before when I was enthralled with goddess dolls. Given I never seem to have enough time for doing what I want to do right then and there my goddess dolls had sat on the back burner for several years.

Back then I decided to make some Victorian wooden dolls - some with paper-clay faces, some with paper-clay mannequin faces, some with paper faces. Their outfits were be a combination of fabric, lace, paper, creative embroidery embellishments, ribbon silk floral, beads, etc.

For their hair I utilized some of the alpaca yarn my sister, who is the owner of Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber, had given me. I had some alpaca yarn fiber from Cosmo, Zinnia, Sunflower, Ivy,and Masquerade. All was hand-spun, but some she had single plied and some she had Navajo plied.

Back in September 2014 when I was doing a little cleaning of my craft area I had found some 3/4" wood shelf sitter shapes that my husband had cut out for me several years before. I had intended to make a painted figure of some sort out of them and decided to create two witches with paper-clay faces.

I was happy with the way the shelf sitter witches turned out so I decided to make a bunch of templates of different shapes and sizes that my younger brother and husband could use for cutting the wood dolls that I wanted to make.

Since I never do anything in moderation I ended up with several templates - okay, make that lots of templates utilizing different lengths, widths, and depths of wood. It took us a long time to draw, cut and sand the wood pieces. By the time I was finished I had 41 dolls to make. I told you I never do anything in moderation!

After working on my dolls for what seemed like weeks on end I finally finished them and they are shown in the picture above.  At the time I was happy how most of them came out and unsatisfied with the way some had come out.

As with everything I do I always need to tweak them and sometimes totally revise them.  I can do this days, weeks, months, years and even decades after having created them.  My mixed media paper-clay art dolls were no exception.  For some reason I decided to take a look at them and ended up revising many of them and tweaking others a little.

Sometimes the reason for the revision or tweaking is because I had bought a new craft supply item, gotten some new graphic images, or learned a new technique that I wanted to try.  Such was the case with these dolls.

So, I spent all last week revising and tweaking them.  Not only was I really happy with the way they all came out, but hubby commented that he really liked the changes as well.  I think he was probably happy that they were done and the living room, which is where I've been crafting lately wasn't a total mess.

As any crafter knows, crafting is messy and it requires a lot of space and a lot of different supplies.  Since I'm very particular with regards to how my craft supplies are stored and organized I had containers all over the living room.  A totally organized mess in my mind.  Messy in his....haha.

I know that I've mentioned many times over the years how I craft all over the house.  In fact, there's probably more craft supplies and finished pieces in the house than anything else we might have.  I still think I need a bigger house, but hubby doesn't have the same frame of mind.  He wants to go smaller.  So, I utilize whatever space I have whether it's in the living room, dining room, family room, bedroom, garage or basement.  As is said I craft all over the house...haha.

I'm going to be blogging individually on some of the changes I made over the next few weeks and hope you stay tuned to see all the changes.  The finished dolls are in the picture at the beginning of this post and shown in the picture below.  I hope you like the revisions and tweaks I made.

Hopefully I won't revise them again. I wouldn't bet on that if I was you... haha.

A Little Downsizing Is Good For The Creative Soul

If you've been following along with my blogs and websites over the last fourteen years you know that the "dollies" and I have had quite a few websites and quite a few blogs. Fourteen years ago for a small business owner to have a website online that you had control over you basically had to either create your own using HTML or some comparable software that could publish to the web and then FTP (file transfer protocol) it to what-ever service provider was hosting your website and domain name.

I wanted to be able to update my website whenever I wanted and change it whatever way I wished. As a result my first two websites were created in Publisher and FTP'd to my hosting accounts at GoDaddy where my two domain names resided. I used Paypal HTML coding back then and had to copy and paste their payment HTML coding for every item I wanted to sell. While I had complete control over my website design the coding was tedious at best.

When instant download e-patterns came along I used PayloadZ and Paypal to handle the "Buy Now" capabilities. This, too, utilized HTML coding which, again, was tedious at best.

So, before long I outgrew the capabilities of these two websites and needed websites with more sophisticated shopping carts and with the ability to handle instant download e-products. So, I decided to open two new websites utilizing a CubeCart shopping cart at In A Pickle Web Design, which is owned by Annie Kelly.

With the two new websites with Annie I now had 4 websites and a GoDaddy Website Tonight "About Me" page. Two of the websites I was still maintaining with Publisher and transferring via FTP to GoDaddy, two I was maintaining using the In A Pickle Web Design CubeCart interface, and one I was maintaining through GoDaddy.

Five websites, however, wasn't all I had. I had jumped on the blogging craze back in 2003 utilizing an AOL blog, then a Yahoo 360 blog, and then several Blogger.com blogs. For me blogging was the perfect solution for disseminating information about your small business and letting your customers get to know you. Back then, however, there was a lot of skepticism about blogging with some small business owners even claiming they would never buy anything off a blog. Not me. I took a giant step forward and stopped issuing newsletters. I jumped on the blogging band wagon and have never looked back.

My online interests continued to expand over the years as well as my doll & craft interests. Over time my blogs multiplied as each had a different audience and, therefore, a different subject to discuss. So, at one point in time I had 5 websites, 18 blogs, an Etsy shop, a Zibbet shop, 3 Zazzle shops, and several other secondary e-pattern and handmade goods online selling venues. I also had a topsite, several plugboards, and a lot of social media pages and/or groups to maintain.

Four years ago I decided to do a little downsizing.  All of this had all become too much to handle so I decided to start downsizing gradually. The first to go were the plugboards, followed by half of my blogs, followed by several social media communities and groups, followed by some of the selling venues.

Four years ago I decided to consolidate all of my websites into one selling website that could handle not only all my e-products, all my print patterns, and all my handmade goods but be expandable so it is able to be displayed correctly on all the desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices out there.

Back then I did a lot of research and decided to create my new Linda Walsh Originals Shop at GoDaddy utilizing their Quick Shopping Cart. What I liked about the GoDaddy website is that it would handle all of my different businesses under one roof as well as all my handmade products and all my e-products.

My consolidated website handling both digital products and handmade products has worked well for the past four years, but was still a lot of work with everything else I was doing, including online classes that I love to take.  So, I decided to downsize even more and closed my Linda Walsh Originals Shop which was selling my e-patterns and all my handmade doll and craft decorations.

I also decided to upgrade my Linda Walsh Originals Information website which is a GoDaddy Website Tonight website to be an "About me" portfolio with multiple pages of sorts for everything and anything concerning Linda Walsh Originals.

I'm still in the process of critiquing my business interests as well as my creative interests so don't be surprised if there are a few more changes to come. Sometimes too much is too much and down sizing is good for the soul.  Plus, it allows for plenty of time for creative processes.  So, stay tuned to wherever my muse takes me.

The Lure Of The Leprechaun! They're Just Too Mischievous!

The lure of the leprechaun! Sounds ominous - doesn't it?

What do I mean by this? Well, what is it about leprechauns that makes people love them? What is their hidden attraction - their lure?

Is it their devilish nature? The twinkle in their eyes? Their dimples? Their rosy cheeks? Their sheer luck?

Maybe it's their tenacity? Their studiousness? Their lively spirits?

Or, the fact that they have little "pots of gold?" Hidden treasures and mischievousness?

Or, is it because they wear green outfits and live in the forest? Or is it because they are cobblers by trade? What?

So, what's the lure? Why do people far and wide love the little men in the green suits? (Almost sound like martians, doesn't it?) And, did they always wear green suits?

It's definitely something for everyone loves leprechauns, especially crafters. Of course, then again, crafters love just about anything that they can create. And, crafters love other crafters and leprechauns are shoemakers which makes them crafters after all. That's "crafters logic" for ya.

So, really, why do crafters love to create them? Is it their red hair? Is it because they are inherently lucky and we all hope some of that their luck will rub off on us? Or, is it because we can appreciate all their hard work and hard efforts to make their creations - shoes? What is it about these little men in green suits that lures us?

So, (surprise, surprise) that got me to thinking about the history of the leprechaun. If you're a reader of my Linda's Blog you had to see this coming a mile away. So, of course I had to find out - where did their legend begin?

According to Wikipedia.com - "In Irish mythology, a leprechaun (Modern Irish: leprechaun) is a type of male faerie said to inhabit the island of Ireland. They are a class of "faerie folk" associated in Irish mythology and folklore, as with all faeries, with the Tuatha Dé Danann and other quasi-historical races said to have inhabited Ireland before the arrival of the Celts."

As with many legends and folklore Irish legends are steeped in Celtic or Druid superstition and folklore that are handed down one generation to another.

Irish folklore, in particular is full of tales of fairies, leprechauns, banshees and other supernatural beings. Centuries ago it was believed that fairies lived in fairy forts which were large mounds of earth and that if you were to touch a fairy that would bring you bad luck.

Banshee's were female spirits who had long flowing hair and who wailed outside the home of someone whose was about to die. In rural Ireland to this day many people still believe in the banshee.

The most famous Irish fairy of all is, of course, the leprechaun. They are said to be aloof and unfriendly and busy themselves all day making shoes. They aren't easy to spot, but are industrious - stashing away all their money in hidden pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. According to legend, the only way to track a leprechaun is to follow the sound of a leprechaun hammering the shoes.

The image of the Leprechaun is that of a mischievous little old man who is 2' tall and a cobbler or shoemaker by trade. They are usually thought of to be rich, having buried many, many "pots of gold." According to legend, if you come across a leprechaun do not look away. If you do they will disappear. If you keep your eyes fixed on them they cannot escape or vanish. But, they are cunning and often can trick you into looking away.

In most of the folklore surrounding leprechauns they are characterized as harmless creatures who live alone or in remote locations. They like their solitude, but if engaged in conversation can be quite worldly. But, don't expect them to tell you where they've hidden their "pots of gold." They aren't likely to tell you that and will trick you before they do.

According to some legends leprechauns can be ill-mannered and cunning.

One interesting fact that surprised me was that in 1831 Samuel Lover wrote that the leprechaun wore a red coat, and Yeats in 1888 in his book entitled Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry describes the leprechaun as follows:

"He is something of a dandy, and dresses in a red coat with seven rows of buttons, seven buttons on each row, and wears a cocked-hat, upon whose pointed end he is wont in the north-eastern counties, according to McAnally, to spin like a top when the fit seizes him."

Now-a-days he wears a green coat or green frock and is synonymous with shamrocks and St. Patrick's Day. And all of that is synonymous with the Irish.

The Irish have celebrated St. Patricks Day for thousands of years. Surprisingly, the first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762.

Over the next several decades Irish patriotism amongst American immigrants flourished and parades and "the celebrating of the green" became synonymous with Irish American pride.

Millions of Irish immigrants started pouring into to the U.S. during the Great Potato Famine of Ireland in 1845. They soon came to realize that their sheer numbers had political clout. As a result, their voting block, known as the "green machine," became an important swing vote for political hopefuls. To this day in the U.S. annual St. Patrick's Day parades and breakfasts are a must-attend event for seasoned politicians and political hopefuls. And, everything, including the food is "green" in color.

So, as with most legends and folklore the legends become history and the folklore becomes tradition. Soon it becomes hard to tell the legends and folklore from the facts. So, are the Irish lucky (i.e. the luck of the Irish) because of the leprechauns or the leprechauns lucky because they are "Irish?" We'll never know.

"The luck of the Irish" has been a saying tossed around for decades, along with images of tiny green men, green beer and, of course, the four-leaf clover. Some say that the saying "luck of the Irish" doesn't infer luck at all - but, instead, infers "bad luck!" We'll never know for sure. In any event, if you are lucky enough to be Irish or to see a "leprechaun" maybe you'll soon be finding your own "pot of gold." Maybe that even means that if you're a crafter who makes them "you will soon find your reward for all your hard work!"

For crafters, leprechauns come in all shapes, sizes, and materials, They are short, fat, skinny, tall, made of cloth, wood, ceramic, plastic, etc. They can be made out of just about anything, but for sure, they are all mischievous. Whatever it is that lures us to make them - they are a delight to make.

And, if you do make a leprechaun doll - watch out. They can be mischievous and cause quite the stir in your household.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Things To Think About - Some Irish Blessings For You

As St. Patrick's Day approaches please remember these Irish Blessings:

May you alway walk in sunshine.

May you never want for more.

May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

---------------------------------------------

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks,
May your heart be as light as a song,
May each day bring you bright, happy hours,
That stay with you all the year long
--------------------------------------------- May joy and peace surround you,  contentment latch your door,  and happiness be with you now and bless you evermore! ------------------------------------------- May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
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May your blessings outnumber
The Shamrocks that grow.
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
---------------------------------------------
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
---------------------------------------------
Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!
---------------------------------------------
And, my favorite Irish blessing:

May you live a long life
Full of gladness and health,
With a pocket full of gold
As the least of your wealth.
May the dreams you hold dearest,
Be those which come true,
The kindness you spread,
Keep returning to you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day Jokes For The Kids

Here's some St. Patrick's Day jokes for the kids:

Q - Why do people wear shamrocks on St. Patrick's Day?
A - Real rocks are too heavy!

Q - When is an Irish Potato not an Irish Potato?
A - When it's a FRENCH Fry!

Q - What do you call a fake stone in Ireland?
A - A sham rock!

Q - Why do frogs like St. Patrick's Day?
A - Because they're always wearing GREEN!

Q - What is out on the lawn all summer and is Irish?
A - Paddy O'Furniture!

Q - How can you spot a jealous shamrock?
A - It will be green with envy!

Q - Why did St. Patrick DRIVE all the snakes out of Ireland?
A - Because it was too far for them to CRAWL!

Q - What kind of bow can't be tied?
A - A rain bow!

Q: What do you get if you cross poison ivy with a four leaf clover?
A: A rash of good luck!

Q - Why should you never iron a 4-leaf clover?
A - You never want to PRESS your luck!

Q - What do you call a clumsy Irish dance?
A - A JIG mistake!

Q - Why do so many people live in Ireland?
A - Because the capital is always DUBLIN!

Q - How can you tell an Irishman is having a good time?
A - He always DUBLIN over with laughter!




And, finally:


Knock! Knock!
Who's there?
Irish!
Irish Who?
Irish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day Craft Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's Pinterest Board

St. Patrick's Day Craft Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's

St. Patrick's Day is always a fun holiday. I hope you enjoy some of the St. Patrick's Day crafts tutorials, video's and how-to's I have found.  Have fun decorating.

If you love our St. Patrick's Day Craft Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's board please follow our board by clicking on the link above.